1969 Dodge Charger Project 50 - Rear Panels

Last month, we were finally able to get the trunk floor put back in the Charger. We started this project back in the September 2013 issue, and it was definitely a rough start. We found out that there was a lot of metal repair and replacement required, so any suspect metal was cut away, the body sent to media blasting, and now it’s time for reassembly.

With the trunk floor in place, we can now focus on the rest of the rear sheetmetal. When reinstalling this much sheetmetal, you can run into a few variables that will dictate how you can proceed. If you don’t have a jig or table to support the body while you cut the rusty metal away, you need to be very methodical about removing and replacing each piece. Let’s face it, if you cut the rear end of the car away, and it’s not properly supported, you’ll end up with a nice piece of lawn art. So, you could work on one piece or section of the car at a time, but what if the rusted panels are connected (i.e. Dutchman and quarter)? If you can’t weld the new panel to an already existing panel, simply removing a single panel at a time isn’t an option.

In our case, just replacing the quarter panels wasn’t an option. The rusty quarter panels were held together by a rusty trunk floor, a rusty tail panel, and a rusty Dutchman panel. We were going to need deep cuts, and deep cuts require the proper tools.

Like we said before, the AMD Installation Center has the tools, and Auto Metal Direct had the non-rusty, brand new sheetmetal that we needed. Since the trunk floor is in the car, let’s surround it with some more metal.

2/12<strong>01</strong> Last month, we finally got the trunk floor put in place. With this much metal removed, we really needed the help of the AMD Installation Center. Supporting a body that is less than complete is mandatory, and the installation center has just what’s needed.

9/12<strong>05</strong> Once you’re sure of the placement of each panel, a few tack welds can be utilized to secure each panel. None of the panels are completely welded at this time, with each panel simply having just a couple of spot welds, they can still be “adjusted” if need be.